Elizabeth Ridder Eric Jerome GROWING PAINS OF THE PHOENIX METRO AREA GRAND CHALLENGE: RESTORE AND IMPROVE URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE

LESSON OVERVIEW Purpose: To engage students in the engineering design process through the creation of a new neighborhood in their area To determine the current infrastructure needs of their city and to generate ideas to expand the design life of the need To examine the impacts of new development on current infrastructure, landscapes, and perceived quality of life

LEARNING ACTIVITY Materials: Butcher paper – 1 sheet per group of 4, size dependent upon classroom wall space Markers Examples of infrastructure, past and current issues, how issues are addressed Time required: Three 50-minute classes

Introduce students to different types of infrastructure through example and class generated ideas. Discuss problems with the examples and how these problems are addressed LEARNING ACTIVITY – DAY 1

Introduce engineering design process Assign homework: Identify an infrastructure issue within the community, city, or state and create potential solutions to increase the life span by 25 years LEARNING ACTIVITY – DAY 1

LEARNING ACTIVITY – DAY 2 Give each group 1 sheet of butcher paper and markers Each group will design a new neighborhood in a recently purchased, undeveloped (desert) area Groups will be given a set of design criteria and constraints They will have to overcome an “issue” as seen by the city (land developer) as part of their design proposal E.g. Neighborhoods of this size generally use XXX gallons of water per day but the system that the neighborhood ties into can only handle an additional XXX gallons/day. How do you propose to solve this problem?

Each group will hang their poster and in groups of 2 will then travel around the classroom to ask other students about their designs Will use a worksheet to guide student questions and evaluations of other student projects LEARNING ACTIVITY – DAY 3

ASSESSMENT Day 1 – Written homework assignment Day 2 – Informal assessment of group dynamics. Day 3 – Participation in explaining design to other classmates. Turn in completed evaluation form. Potentially have students evaluate their group’s performance on how each member contributed to the design, model creation, and explanation of their design.

CONCEPTS AND STANDARDS Big Idea/ConceptArizona Standard(s)National Standard(s)Key Word(s) Observations, Questions, Hypotheses S1: C1: PO1-3 AHypothesis, Prediction Scientific Testing (Investigation and Modeling) S1: C2: PO1-5AModel, Prototype Analysis and Conclusions S1: C3: PO1-8A Evidence, Conclusion, Types of Relationships, Types of Error, Critique, Validity, Reliability Communication (design/results) S1: C4: PO1, 3-5A Impact of Scientific Development S2: C1: DP01A Engineering, Materials, Infrastructure, Urban Nature of Scientific Knowledge S2: C2: PO1-4AKnowledge, Sample, Bias, Inference Changes in Environments S3: C1: PO1-2C, F Hazards (natural and human), Risk, Population(s), Environment, Interactions, Interdependence Science and Technology in Society S3: C2: PO1-3E, F Technology, Design criteria, Urban Planning, Infrastructure Other ideas/concepts may include: scale, water cycle and local/regional sources, carbon cycle, energy types and sources (solar, electric, gas, natural gas, hydrogen), networks, transportation, sustainability, urban ecology, green space, fragmentation/connectedness, coupled human-environment systems, waste streams Multiple

QUESTIONS/SUGGESTIONS?